Officials seek transit answers

POST FALLS - Local transportation officials on Thursday demanded to learn more about the demise of a transit service that provided urban and rural routes in Kootenai, Bonner and Shoshone counties.

Kootenai Medical Center has agreed to temporarily provide free medical transport services to those in the urban area who formerly used the nonprofit North Idaho Community Express (NICE) or Kootenai Area Transit System (KATS).

However, officials are scrambling to find a temporary provider for the rural routes.

Clif Warren, regional mobility manager for the Community Transportation Association of Idaho, said last week his goal was to find a rural provider within a month, but on Thursday said he believes it will take longer.

John Austin of the Panhandle Area Council, which oversees the transit service contract for the county's urban routes, told the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the Idaho Transportation Department performed two audits on NICE/KATS and the result was that federal rural funds were dropped.

"There was a managerial audit conducted in November that triggered a financial audit in December," Austin said.

The transit service was then discontinued and NICE/KATS appears to have folded.

"That wasn't a choice we made," said Helen Stephens, NICE manager, of the halt in service. "It was a choice that was made because of (a lack of) funding."

Stephens declined to comment further, and directed questions to Warren.

"I'm not there anymore," she said.

The phone conversation with Stephens ended, and she did not return a message afterward.

Warren and Austin directed questions about the audit to ITD's public transportation division. An official there couldn't be reached for comment.

Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin, who sits on the KMPO Board, requested that the KMPO be provided a copy of the audits for insight on the NICE/KATS demise as soon as they're available.

Austin said the nonprofit has two weeks to respond to the audits before the results can be made public.

"We're in that time frame," Austin said.

Seniors and those with disabilities were primary users of NICE/KATS door-to-door routes, but others, including some students, also used the service. Many users paid $1 each way for the subsidized service.

Meanwhile, Toby Ruhs, KMC's transportation manager, said only a dozen or so of the former NICE/KATS users have contacted the hospital about resuming medical service in the urban area. But he expects that number to grow rapidly as about 400 who formerly used that service have been sent applications to restore it.

"I'm sure we'll be getting a lot of phone calls from those people," Ruhs said. "A lot of people still don't know what's going on, but they will in the next few days."

Ruhs said KMC has agreed to help for 30 days, but it's possible that it will permanently take on those who formerly used NICE/KATS for medical transport.

"It's something that we already do," he said.

Austin said while KMC has agreed to temporarily offer the service for free, Austin said the hospital should be entitled to funding if it takes on the medial service permanently.

"The county commissioners are adamant that KMC gets reimbursed for its cost, and we're working on that at this time," Austin said, adding that KATS received about $26,000 per month for the medical service.

Austin said he hopes discussions with Citylink will start soon about restoring non-medical transit in the urban areas.

Marc Stewart, spokesman for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, which operates CityLink, said the Tribe is willing to come to the table to talk about assisting with the urban routes.

Austin said a request for proposals may not have to be made if an agreement with Citylink can be made.

"(Citylink) already has an intergovernmental agreement to provide services, so an amendment would only have to be made," he said. "Our first choice would be to work with the Tribe and continue to work with KMC."

Warren said there are only four nonprofit provider possibilities for the rural routes in the three counties and he's exploring all those options, but said logistically obtaining a new provider within a month will be difficult.

"We're trying to make things happen as soon as possible, but working with the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) can be a lengthy process," Warren said. "This type of situation has never happened before."

Vehicles formerly used by NICE/KATS - five for urban routes and six for rural routes - will be available for the new providers since they're owned by the government.